Evangelicalism and the Climate Change Policy Debate

Hot Damned America | 645 Hot Damned America: Evangelicalism and the Climate Change Policy Debate Brian McCammack If evangelicals were to take climate change, the environmental issues, seriously, do it from a biblical standpoint—not a secular ideology here but from a biblical standpoint, developing their own voice—there’s no question Washington would pay heed. —Reverend Richard Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals1 laciers are melting and threatening the survival of polar bears, weather seems to be more extreme and erratic, and the global mean tem- Gperature appears to be steadily rising—all consequences, scientists argue, of global climate change. One could learn this much—and also that the United States is lagging far behind other industrial nations, particularly in the European Union, in addressing climate change—from Al Gore’s docu- mentary An Inconvenient Truth or any number of news reports. But Gore and the news media have largely failed to acknowledge that a brewing sea change in the traditional political engagement among an unlikely group—evangelical Christians—perhaps represents America’s greatest hope for instituting climate change legislation. No longer focusing their political engagement almost exclusively on issues such as abortion and gay marriage, a segment of evangelical Christian leaders has broken rank with the politically conservative leadership and begun to address climate change in ways that suggest real possibility for change, both politically and in terms of faith. Yet this group continues to encounter strong resistance from such popular evangelical leaders as James Dobson and Charles Colson, who refuse to believe that climate change is an issue evangelicals are morally obligated to address and fear that it may become a wedge within evangelicalism, irreparably dividing what has been a fairly cohesive political force over the past quarter century. An analysis of evangelical Christians’ role in climate change policy proves both urgent and fruitful for two main reasons. First, evangelicals have risen to a point of prominence wherein they seem to possess great influence in American politics, making their impact on future climate change policy potentially quite ©2007 The American Studies Association 646 | American Quarterly significant. Considered simply as a voting bloc, evangelical Christians are a force to be reckoned with, making up roughly 30 percent of the American population.2 Second, and perhaps more important, the response to climate change within the evangelical community has been quite discordant, thereby offering valuable insight into the complex and oft-misunderstood group la- beled “evangelical.” It is important to realize, whether from the perspective of policymakers, environmentalists, or evangelicals, that, as a group wielding significant political capital, evangelicals are currently deeply divided on the issue of climate change policy. Like secular politicians and activists, evangelicals disagree on two main facets of decision making regarding climate change—economics and science. Unlike their secular counterparts, evangelicals address a unique third area that, for them, is the basis for all decision making: the scriptures. In large part because the Bible is open to interpretation when it comes to environmental issues, evangelicals are neither a monolithic mass nor inflexible in their environmental beliefs. While it is no doubt cliché to frame the issue in such a way, the fact remains that there are rhetorical, theological, and ideological battles to be won. Evangelicals are in the midst of not only deciding upon an appropriate response to climate change, but also whether or not that response is worth pursuing at the expense of or in addition to such steadfast evangelical political issues as abortion and gay rights.3 Despite sharing many common values, not all evangelicals map their spiri- tual beliefs onto political and social action in the same way; in fact, while all evangelicals are theologically conservative, they are not necessarily all politically conservative.4 Evangelicals interpret the scriptures diversely, sometimes empha- sizing different chapters and verses in support of their worldview. Some place importance on personal responsibility and morality; these believers, typically cast as political conservatives, have dominated evangelical political agendas and media representations in recent history. Others tend to believe that social justice issues are more critical to following biblical teachings; these evangelicals are typically cast as politically liberal and marginal to the evangelical political leadership. While “conservative” and “liberal” are loaded terms politically, I nonetheless employ them throughout this essay as useful shorthand when speaking about evangelicals and their approaches to environmental stewardship. Here the terms simultaneously imply a distinct polarity on climate change policy while also affording the flexibility of a continuum that includes more moderate environmental views. While there is certainly room for unique, more complex evangelical approaches to environmentalism, evangelical leadership has eschewed any sort Hot Damned America | 647 of productive dialectical discourse, instead tending to exhibit two distinct and irreconcilable positions.5 One group, which I will call liberal evangelical environmentalists, generally accepts the scientific claim that climate change is occurring in part due to anthropogenic effects and interprets biblical mandates to mean that action should be taken to reduce manmade carbon emissions and mitigate environmental impacts. Liberal evangelical environmentalists are represented by the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) and, most recently, the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI). Among the group’s foremost supporters are Rick Warren, best-selling author of The Purpose-Driven Life; Richard Cizik, NAE vice president of government affairs; Jim Ball, executive director of EEN; and Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals. The other group, which I will call conservative evangelical environmentalists, often remains skeptical of scientific evidence supporting the anthropogenic climate change theory and interprets biblical mandates to mean that no action should be taken to reduce emissions, even if climate change is occurring. Rather than attempt to mitigate environmental impacts—a prohibitively costly proposition, they argue—conservative evangelical environmentalists believe the more sensible approach is to promote economic develop- ment aiding adaptation to environmental changes.6 Conservative evangelical environmentalists are represented by the Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship (ICES) and, more recently, the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance (ISA).7 The most prominent ISA supporters are conservative evangelical heavy hitters such as Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, and James Dobson, Focus on the Family founder. But the most vocal conservative evangelical environmentalist is E. Calvin Beisner, ISA spokesman and associate professor of historical theology and social ethics at Knox Theological Seminary, who almost exclusively outlines the conservative side’s environmental theological underpinnings—a subject of paramount importance in evangelicalism, a faith whose bedrock is the Bible.8 Theory and Practice: Biblical Interpretations and Practical Applications Evangelicals’ biblical interpretation is crucial to their role in the climate change debate—and, more broadly, environmental stewardship—precisely because the Bible plays so central a role in evangelical faith. While liberal Protestants may tend to invoke more secular ethical or moral arguments for environmentalism, evangelical environmentalists—both liberal and conservative—return to the 648 | American Quarterly Bible as their guiding text.9 Somewhat less clear is exactly how the Bible should be interpreted. Conflicting theological interpretations focus mainly on two different biblical principles—stewardship and concern for the poor. The debate over biblical environmentalism has historically focused on how to reconcile the ideas of dominion and stewardship.10 In Genesis 1:28, humankind is given dominion over the environment: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” And in Genesis 2:15, man is commanded to be a steward to the garden: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”11 The conservative perspective on these verses and others is articulated chiefly by E. Calvin Beisner, who argues that “linking these two commissions together—cultivate and guard the Garden, and fill, subdue and rule the Earth—implies that God intended, and still intends, mankind to transform the Earth from wilderness into garden.”12 Beisner envisions an active role for humankind in its relationship to the environment and makes no apologies for what many would agree are the negative effects of environmental exploitation. The cultivation of wilderness might have seemingly little to do with twenty-first-century environmental stewardship, let alone climate change policy, but Beisner argues that “this Biblical principle also applies to debates over global warming. Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations might result in some increase in global average temperature. However, increasing

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